A Monroe County jury has found Bryce Michael Leighton guilty of murder in the 2023 shooting death of Tara Langley, closing out a case that began with a frantic 911 call outside a home near Unionville and included a self-defense claim.
The verdict was reported by the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office, according to The Bloomingtonian, which covered the trial's outcome. Leighton and Langley had been in a dating relationship for seven years, he told investigators, before the shooting ended her life inside the attached garage of a home on the 5929 block of East State Road 45.
A 1:30 a.m. Call for Help
The case dates back to around 1:30 a.m. on November 4, 2023, when a neighbor called 911 after reporting that something had happened at the house next door, according to The Herald-Times. That same neighbor also reported hearing a man yelling outside the home, per the probable-cause affidavit cited by the paper. When Monroe County sheriff's deputies arrived, they encountered Leighton outside the residence with apparent blood on his hands and clothing.
Inside the attached garage, deputies found 48-year-old Langley lying on the floor. Nearby was a black AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and to the left of her body were an empty rifle shell casing and a stun gun, the affidavit stated, as detailed by the same report. Investigators also recovered a projectile inside the home as part of their evidence collection.
Leighton's Account, Per the Affidavit
According to the probable-cause affidavit, Leighton told investigators he was trying to pack his things so he could leave when Langley approached him with a stun gun, saying she “came at me.” He said he was holding a firearm at the time the stun gun activated, and the affidavit noted that he may have shot Langley in self-defense when she fired the stun gun at him.
Detective Andrew Rushing of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, who filed the affidavit and served as lead detective, wrote that evidence indicated Leighton was standing just inside the garage's exterior doorway when the shot was fired, while Langley was standing in the middle of the garage. Rushing also wrote that Leighton's path out of the garage was unobstructed at the time, a detail that figured into investigators' account of the shooting's circumstances.
Verdict and Prosecution Team
The jury ultimately found Leighton guilty of murder. The affidavit included Leighton's account that he may have shot Langley in self-defense. The Monroe County Prosecutor's Office reported that the state's trial team included Chief Deputy Jeff Kehr, First Deputy Chris Pierce and Deputy Joseph Bazzell. No sentencing date for Leighton has been made public.
A Broader Pattern in Indiana
The Indiana Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team counted 91 fatalities from 72 incidents that occurred in the state in 2020, according to a report hosted by the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
